A comic book consists of a book containing stories told with sequential images, usually combined with text.
The first comics appeared in newspapers, where "The Yellow Kid" became the first popular character. Newspaper comics flourished in the early 1900s.
Little Nemo by Winsor McCay represents this pre-comic book era's supreme instance of craftsmanship. According to comics 'pioneer' Stan Lee a "'Comic book' is a misnomer for an illustrated story."

Warning:Wikipedia contains spoilers.

Max Gaines published the first comic book, Funnies on Parade in 1933. He printed an 8-page comic section that folded down from the large broadsheet to a smaller 9-inch by 12-inch format containing reprints of comic strips. The new format proved popular.

As World War II ended the popularity of superheroes waned in favor of other genres. Funny animal comics, such as those published featuring Walt Disney's characters, science-fiction, Old West, romance, and humor comics all found a comfortable niche. The horror comic and true crime comic genres flourished, due in no small part to stylized artwork and literate sensibilities developing. EC Comics gained fame as a publisher of crime and horror comics, producing a number of high-quality suspense stories (many containing violence and gore).

In the 1950s politicians blamed comic books as a cause of crime, juvenile delinquency, moral degradation, drug use, and poor grades. The psychiatrist Frederic Wertham's influential bestseller Seduction of the Innocent, obsessed with sadistic and homosexual undertones in superhero comics, raised anxieties about comics. This moral panic led to the Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency taking an interest in comics. As a result of these concerns, schools and parent groups held public comic-book burnings, and some cities banned comics. Comics circulation went into a tailspin from which it has yet to recover.

In 1954 most of the major publishers helped found the Comics Code Authority, and drafted the Comics Code; intended, in their own words, as "...the most stringent code in existence for any communications media."

In 1961 writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby created the Fantastic Four for Marvel Comics, gaining popular success. Marvel offered superhero characters, but with human failings, fears, and inner demons. Dynamic artwork by Kirby and Steve Ditko complemented Lee's colorful, catchy prose. Their new style found an audience among children, who loved the superheroes, and among college students, who were entertained by the deeper themes.

A second wave of independent-produced comics began in the mid-1980's and continues to this day. These have been refered to as 'independent', 'alternative comics', 'small press', or 'mini-' comics. This wave continues somewhat in the tradition of the underground comics, and also attempts to further refine comics as an art form.

In 1985, two comic book series published by DC Comics (The Dark Knight Returns and Watchmen) had a profound impact upon the comic book industry. The phenomenal popularity of these series led both of the major publishers (DC and Marvel) to make drastic changes to their existing comic books, and generally added a more realistic, "darker" tone to superhero comic book stories. In addition, many smaller publishers entered the field of mainstream comic books, scoring hits of their own and capturing a noticeable share of the market. Image Comics and Dark Horse Comics also produced a large number of books that capitalized on the "darker, more realistic" aspect of storytelling in comic books. Dubbed "grim and gritty" comics by collectors and critics, these comic books often went out of their way to emphasize violence and sex in order to outsell their competitors. Such vigilante "anti-heroes" as The Punisher, Wolverine (comics), and Spawn captured the attention (and buying dollars) of the comic buying public, and for a period of several years the pages of mainstream comics were filled with obsessed mutants and "dark avengers." This tendency towards darkness and nihilism even resulted in DC producing heavily promoted comic book stories such as "A Death In The Family" in the Batman series, where Robin the Boy Wonder was brutally tortured and murdered by The Joker; while at Marvel, the continuing popularity of the various X-Men books led to storylines such as Mutant Massacre and Acts of Vengeance.

Comic books remain very popular in Asia and Europe. Translated Japanese comic books imported into North America comprise another genre, called manga. In France, comic books are considered another art form (with the associated popularity), and are called "BD" (pronounced "bay-day")

In the early 2000s, the continuing decline of the monthly comic book format (22-to-30 page issues), along with a steady increase in sales of graphic novels at retail bookstores, led comic book industry insiders to consider the possibility that the era of monthly comic books may be coming to an end, with the industry being subsumed and dominated by the publication of graphic novels. As it is, most publishers arrange nowadays to have their stories geared to run around the equivalent page length for binding into a graphic novel.